The owners of B&M store are third on the rich list.
Photograph: Jozef Mikietyn/Alamy

Discount store owners and bookies have topped a list of the richest people in north-west England.

Tom Morris, the owner of Liverpool-based Home Bargains, is the richest person in the region, with a fortune of £2.5bn, according to Insider Media.

Third on the list, after the property mogul John Whittaker (£2.06bn), are the brothers Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora, of the discount store chain B&M, who are worth an estimated £1.74bn.

Fred and Peter Done, founders of the Betfred bookies’ chain, are at No 4 on the list with an estimated wealth of £1.3bn. Simon Nixon, the founder of the Chester-based moneysupermarket.com, ranks fifth with £1.03bn.

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The list was compiled by valuing stakes in public companies at the end of July 2016, according to prevailing prices in the Financial Times. Private companies were valued according to their sector rating or latest profits.

In 1976, aged 21, Tom Morris used a bank overdraft to start his business. Today TJ Morris Ltd, which runs Home Bargains, employs 17,000 staff across 400 stores and has plans to expand to 30,000 staff in 800 outlets.

B&M Retail floated in 2014 with a valuation of £2.7bn and is now worth £2.58bn. The Arora brothers took over the then struggling business in December 2004 and it has since seen significant growth, acquiring a number of former Kwik Save, Woolworths and Au-Naturale stores.

According to separate research by The Local Data Company, the discount sector – including Poundland, Poundworld and Poundstretcher – grew by 52% between 2010-15. The big four supermarkets – Tesco, Morrisons, Asda and Sainsbury – grew by 33% in the same period.